A BLOOMING GOOD TIME
There was plenty of flower power and star power at the Museum of Contemporary Art’s glitzy gala honoring red-hot pop culture artist Takashi Murakami. The Geffen Contemporary was transformed into a vibrant, ultra-hip and very loud, techno-Takashi playground. The place was awash in rainbow hues with poesy-printed wallpaper and tableware featuring colorful blooms with smiley faces. Even the ushers got into the spirit. A small army of leggy lovelies sporting champagne-blond wigs and glittery bustiers came dressed like the artist’s Miss Ko2 character. Locals Cindy Crawford and Owen Wilson joined an eclectic crowd of celebrity fans including Star Trekker Leonard Nimoy, grunge queen Courtney Love and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres.
After a VIP cocktail party where they served white cosmos in black martini glasses, the oh-so-fabulous flock tucked into an exotic spread of tuna sashimi, seared beef rib-eye with wild shiitake mushrooms and banana spring rolls in coconut tapioca. Also on tap? A little mood music courtesy of Kanye West.
It was a dazzling event indeed, but the most prominent shade at this colorful evening was green. The Takashi fling was a record breaker for MOCA, raising a whopping $1.6 million.
PHOTOSYNTHESIS
The first time I met local shutterbug Henry Diltz was at a cozy Fernwood cottage about 10 years ago. A large wooden dinning room table was littered with examples of his work. Rifling through the mound of photos, I found some of the most iconic images of the ’60s and ’70s. There were snaps James Taylor used for his album “Sweet Baby James” and group shots of the Mamas and Papas. Another soon-to-be famous cover shot featured a trio of up-and-coming folk rockers named David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash seated on a well-worn sofa in West Hollywood. Diltz did more than 200 LP sleeves for the day’s biggest bands including The Eagles, The Doors and America. With a keen-eye, he captured unguarded images of Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell as they rode the music train to fame. He traveled in their inner circle and nailed a magic moment in time.
Although Diltz aspired to be a musician himself, his career never got off the ground. Instead, he remained an insider with a small camera shooting love-ins, jam sessions, happenings and music festivals. “The fact is I like to watch people,” Diltz says. “I like to find out where they’re at and why. I feel myself as an observer. I talk, I laugh, but all the while I’m quietly framing what goes on around me.”
Now his fascinating pics are out there for all to see with the release of his new coffee table book, “California Dreaming: Memories and Visions of LA 1966-1975.”
The tome, filled with hundreds of rocking images comes in a limited edition of 2,000 copies and is listed at $450. For real groupies, there is a deluxe version priced at $1,200. True, these memories do not come cheap, but if you’re a lover of the Age of Aquarius, they might be worth every groovy penny.
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